Mordavian Nights
Mordavian Nights by Boris Stovich (Hero-U) Welcome to Mordavia (Hero-U), my dear friend. I've been expecting you. Would you care for a tour of our little village? Through these massive stonewalls and stout gate, we walk through the garden at the center of town. See the carved marble gravemaker we have placed here? This is our memorial to the Wizard Erana (Hero-U) who once gave her life to protect our land from the Dark One (Hero-U). Her magical staff once stood here until the Hero restored the child Tanya Markarov (Hero-U) back to life and claimed the staff for his own. In the west section of town, you can the Burgomeister's office. Dmitri Ivanov (Hero-U) has served for many years as our Burgomeister. He is the direct descendent of the Paladin, Piotyr (Hero-U), who stood at Erana's side in her battle against the Dark. Dmitri is a very honorable man, a worthy great-grandson of Piotyr. The large building over there is the Hotel Mordavia. Such a lovely place. It is run by Yuri and Bella Markarov (Hero-U) and their daughter Tanya. The Hero once stayed at this very inn when he freed us all from the powers of darkness. The shop is run by my wife, Olga. She'll be thrilled to have you join us for supper this evening. I do hope you aren't allergic to cats. My Olga is rather fond of them. What was that? Oh, yes, my Olga and I went through some rough times a few years back. Fortunately, the Hero helped bring us back together. As we stroll over to the eastern section of town, we pass the house where once Nikolai (Hero-U) and Anna (Hero-U) lived. They've passed away now, but sometimes on nights of the full moon, you can see their spirits gliding hand in hand through their home. The strange building at the east end belongs to that mysterious scientist chap, Dr. Cranium (Hero-U), and his bride, Frankie (Hero-U). Frankie just sort of arrived out of nowhere in the village one day. She's built rather attractively, and no one is certain what magnetism drews her to the doctor. Igor (Hero-U) claims she was made for Dr. Cranium. Who is Igor? Why, he is our local gravedigger. He works for the doctor on occasion. None of us have dared inquire just what Igor does for the scientist. To the north is the Adventurer's Guild where the Hero spent hours honing his muscles on the exercise machine. Beside it stands the abandoned monastery of the Cult of the Dark One. You can take a tour of the monastary every Wednesday evening. Lorre Petrovich (Hero-U), the Adventure Guildmaster, is quite happy to tell you chilling tales of the ancient cult. That is the tour of our little village. It's starting to get dark now and the wind is chill. You can hear the howl of the werewolves in the distance. Perhaps we should return to the safety of the shop for the evening. Dangerous things still roam this valley at night. What is that you say? You think you'd rather find a different village to spend the night? But you've only just arrived... Olga and the cats will be so disappointed to miss you. Oh, I do understand your hesitation to stay here with all the ghosts, mad scientists, and uncanny events. We can't all be heroes, now can we?https://web.archive.org/web/20041208234253fw_/http://transolar.com:80/TSMordavia.html Behind the scenes While the hero is not named in this story, nor is there any indication what his class is. There maybe an answer. This story likely was written before the ideas of How To Be A Hero Novels. But according to Lori, the book covering QFG4 (possibly entitled By the Shield) would have focused on Falcon the Paladin (each book in the series focused on at least one of the siblings, with the final book focusing on all four). Katrina would have seen him as the weakest of the four siblings, and chosen to bring him to Mordavia alone (since all four would have posed a risk to her). After summoning him there, the other three siblings would have had to mount their own rescue mission, and reach the valley by other methods. The idea that the Paladin was the first enter the valley is hinted at in the short story Mistress of Darkness, which shows Falcon fighting a ghoul and getting injured, while Katrina watches. On the other hand, Owl may have had a major part later in the story as well, since the staff is very important part of his story line related to Tatiana. Is likely the one who obtained the staff for that purpose. Further more this account is vague enough that it also fits into Hero-U's single hero viewpoint as well, see Hero (Hero-U). References Category:Articles (HTBAH) Category:Alternate Canon